Use of ontologies to support privacy and security management during NGN (Next Generation Networks) handovers

Abstract

Next Generation Networks (NGN) allow user devices and CIT (Communication and Information Technology) services to communicate each other by a communication channel through air radio waves. When it comes to wireless networks, it is important to point out the current transitions while a user is connected to a service by a mobile device. These transitions, called handovers, allow the users to change, transparently, the access provider they are connected in, in order to allow the continuity of the service. During the handovers, the communication between the providers must allow the change of manageable information, maintaining the good perception of the user about the system usage. In order to give ubiquitous systems handovers a support, allowing the user to take control of the session and to migrate, transparently, between wireless technologies, Moreira et al. (2007) propose the SOHand (Service Oriented Handover) architecture. To ensure that the handovers will be done with no problems while users are using services, such architecture uses a set of ontologies called DOHand (Domain Ontology for Handovers) (Vanni, 2006). This set of ontologies will store and share information managed by the providers during the handovers. Two concepts represented by DOHand are important to this project: privacy policies and security requisites related to the user. Thus, the main objective of this project is to extend DOHand to support privacy and security management, handling information and services used by the SOHand users. Consequently, privacy policies and security requisites will be shared between different access and content providers using a standard format.